Mini Coupe JCW review

Mini Coupe 1.6T John Cooper Works

Test date 16 October 2011  Price as tested £23,795

The new Mini Coupe is the first of the modern breed to look like a sports car

 The modern incarnation of the Mini has had a lot of ‘firsts’ claimed for it by its BMW parent. The first four-wheel-drive Mini, the first four-door version, the first diesel. And, now, Mini’s first two-seater (if you’re prepared to overlook the limited-run Mini GP special) and the first three-box body structure has arrived, too, in the shape of the Mini Coupé.

To us, it’s even more simple than that: the Mini Coupé is the first of the modern breed to look like a sports car. (A curiously shaped one, perhaps, but we will come to that in a moment.)
As manufacturers explore ever more diverse market sectors, this one – the ultra-compact two-seat coupé market – is, you might think, a particularly small niche. And you’d be right – Mini is expecting less than five per cent of its sales to be of this variant.

To make the numbers work, the similarities between the hatchback and the coupé are legion, and particularly so for the range-topping John Cooper Works model that we’re testing here, which rolls out of showrooms at a not inconsiderable £23,625 before any options are added.

Design

The potency of what is marketed as the

 After relaunching the brand in 2001, BMW became remarkably adept at moulding the Mini’s revamped shape into whichever format the original car’s genealogy permitted. Despite being impudently tagged to the Mini Moke, last year’s four-door, all-wheel-drive Countryman was a clear indication that the firm was now prepared to breach its own heritage-obsessed brief (and class boundaries) in the hunt for further profitability.

Doubtless, the purists will duly identify the Coupé’s squashed aesthetic as the culmination of BMW’s creeping cynicism towards the marque’s positioning, but the manufacturer’s expectations are more to unquestioningly embrace the new Peugeot RCZ and Volkswagen Scirocco as rivals.

In order to exploit a programme of extensive component sharing, the spiffy two-seater look has effectively been achieved by lopping off the standard roof and heavily raking the windscreen. Based on the cabriolet’s underpinnings (see Under the skin, p65) the Coupé’s dainty new lid is 29mm closer to the ground than the hatchback’s top and it has been hollowed out inside to maximise the subsequent headroom.

At the back, shallower glass tapers to meet an active rear spoiler – the first to be found on a Mini. The MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear axle set-up is carried over, although the Cooper models all feature firmer dampers and a beefier anti-roll bar than stock. Not so the JCW; its suspension is unchanged from the conventional car’s.

Unsurprisingly, the engine line-up also migrates intact. The Coupé’s bonnet houses three guises of the now-familiar 1.6-litre petrol unit, including the 208bhp version reserved for the JCW badge. For fans who prize economy over performance, there is also the prospect of the 141bhp 2.0-litre diesel unit currently found in all Cooper SD variants. All come with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, and all save the JCW include a six-speed automatic on the options list.

On The Road

The Mini's strong brakes marshal its 1230kg with no problem

If you’re seeking a fast getaway in your Mini Coupé JCW, don’t be lured by that enticing black Sport button just ahead of the gearlever. Running in normal mode, the car responds quickly and in pleasingly direct proportion to the position of your right foot.

However, in an attempt to conjure an impression of even greater responsiveness, Sport mode ruins all of that. Press the button and that engine delivers significantly more of its maximum power and torque at narrower throttle openings. Over several runs, our testers couldn’t get used to the more aggressive throttle pedal mapping. Our 7.2sec two-way average to 60mph is adrift of Mini’s 6.4sec claim – and that claim is to 62mph, remember. A slight shortage of traction at the front axle also contributed to that shortfall.
At higher speeds, where traction matters less, the JCW earned its stripes – 30mph to 70mph through the gears took just 6.0sec, which is fast enough to mix it with Golf GTIs and their ilk.

A slick-operating gearchange and, away from Sport mode, a responsive and predictable engine make wringing speed out of the Mini Coupé very enjoyable indeed. Twin-scroll turbocharging is to thank for the lack of turbo lag in the powerplant, as well as its genuine forcefulness between 3000rpm and 5000rpm.
Refinement isn’t something that we’ve come to expect from a hot Mini, but the JCW Coupé is noisy even by Mini’s own standards. Between engine noise, plenty of wind noise and tyre roar unencumbered by any kind of cabin-insulating rear bulkhead, the Mini Coupé JCW produces 74dB of noise at 70mph, which is plenty. On wider tyres, a Scirocco R is some 4dB quieter. The Mini’s brakes are certainly impressive, however, and they stopped the car from 70mph in the dry in just 46.8m, which is a better result than the Ford Focus RS we tested in 2009.

A reinforced body, lower centre of roll and a focused suspension set-up give a certain amount of on-paper credibility to Mini’s claim that the new Coupé is a real sports car – and the driving experience delivers thrills and excitement aplenty. This Mini lacks absolutely nothing in the way that it dives at apexes. Brimming with mid-corner agility, it offers a great deal of driver involvement and a liveliness of handling character, too.
However, anyone hoping, as we were, for a radically different, more rounded and grown up dynamic temperament in this car than the one recognised in so many hot Mini hatchbacks we’ve seen over the past decade will be disappointed. Because the JCW Coupé is like a JCW hatchback that has been raised on a diet of sugar, caffeine and amphetamines: it’s edgy, boisterous and, at times, even a bit badly behaved.

On the right road – one with a smooth surface and a mixture of open, flat corners – or on a circuit, this car is riotous good fun. It turns in with incredible zeal and very little body roll, and it matches that prodigious front-end grip with easily accessed adjustability at the rear. The DSC system doesn’t allow the car’s mobile rear axle much freedom to roam, but with the system off you can take full advantage of it, even in the dry. And underlying that initial dynamic playfulness, the car’s chassis is a completely benign one that you can have real faith in.

Trouble is, most empty UK cross-country roads aren’t circuit-like. They’re uneven and unsighted, and the JCW Coupé just isn’t suited to them. This is the only Coupé model with runflat tyres as standard – low profile ones at that – and it rides in predictable thumping, crashing, unsettled fashion over expansion joints and the like, lacking the shock absorption needed to deal with a broken surface with any kind of authority or finesse. And over even more gentle crests and dips, the Mini’s tendency to torque-steer slightly doesn’t make your driving experience seem any more pleasant.

 

Living

Thanks to that grippy front end, you can carry lots of speed towards the apex of a corne

If you’re at all familiar with the Mini hatch, dropping yourself into the forward part of the Coupé’s interior is like seeing your partner after they’ve had a subtle haircut. You recognise everything, but there’s something ever so slightly different. 

In the Coupé, the dashboard is the same – save for some natty highlighting on the trim – with the same layout of switchgear, driving position and seats.

What’s different is the steeper rake of the windscreen, and there’s no denying that the curving roof, as it slopes quickly towards your head, does add a more cocooning and, we’ll admit, a more sporting feel to the Mini’s cabin.
The Alcantara-covered steering wheel of our test car helps that case along, too – there is barely a wheel in modern motoring that would not feel better with the application of a suede-like rim. The driving position is no more sporting than usual but, marginal loss of headroom aside, is as good as usual. Ergonomically, it’s sound, albeit with seats that some of our testers would have preferred to be bigger, and, particularly, longer under the thighs.
So far, so Mini. That is, of course, so long as you continue to cast your gaze forwards. Turn to the rear and it’s as if a bob cut has become a boot cut. The rear seats have gone, as too would the headroom if they had remained in place. In their place is a small shelf and a larger than expected cubby through to the boot. Given the general hopelessness of the hatchback’s rear seats, this entirely covered load bay might well make the Coupé a more usable alternative to the hatch for some buyers. Access is good, too, available as it is via a wide and lengthy, and heavy, rear hatch.
BMW’s ability to repackage the Mini’s basic formula as a convincing new product is matched only by its knack for convincing consumers that the result is desirable enough to pay a premium for. It’s a welcome surprise, then, to learn that at the cheaper end of the market at least, the Coupé has been priced very keenly indeed. Thanks to the entry-level Cooper model, the new line-up undercuts all of its nearest rivals by a comfortable margin.
Predictably, the JCW returns the brand to form, but even the top-spec car is broadly competitive, especially when its respectable 165g/km and potential 46.1mpg touring fuel economy are taken into account.

Verdict

The Mini Coupé JCW has instantly entertaining dynamic appeal and it will delight a great many. In its element, this Coupé is a lively, agile, fast and super-responsive driver’s car with a disarming, scruff-of-the-neck sort of character.
But on typical UK roads, its dynamic qualities just don’t surface often enough, endure long enough, or shine bright enough to eclipse its failings in other areas. Considering how much car you get for your cash, the JCW Coupé is not all that expensive. But it’s also noisy, has limited practicality and suffers the kind of rolling refinement that makes you wince over really bad roads.
We had hoped for a more three-dimensional, less contrived dynamic performance from Mini’s new sporting king. However, for all its vivacity, this car imposes serious and regrettable compromises that just don’t feature in the best £20k coupés.

How much ?

• Price as tested £23,795
• Price as tested £29,415

How fast

• 0-30mph 2.9 sec
• 0-60mph 7.2 sec
• 0-100mph 17 sec
• 0-150mph no data
• 0-200mph  no data
• 30-70mph  no data
• 0-400m  no data
• 0-1000m  no data
• 30-50mph in 3rd/4th  3 / 4
• 40-60mph in 4th/5th  4 / 4.9 sec
• 50-70mph in 5th  5.1 sec
• 60-0mph  2.76 sec
• Top speed  149 mph
• Noise at 70mph  74 dbA

How thirsty?

• Test average  33.6 mpg
• Test best/worst  46.1 / 13.2

Government figures

• Combined/urban  39.8 / 30.1 mpg
• CO₂ emissions  165 g/km

How big?

• Length  3728 mm
• Width  1683 mm
• Height  1378 mm
• Wheelbase  no data
• Weight  1240 kg
• Fuel tank  40.0 litres

Engine

• Layout 4 cyls , 1598 cc
• Max power 208 bhp at 6000 rpm
• Max torque 192 ft at 1850 rpm
• Specific output no data
• Power to weight no data
• Installation F
• Bore/stoke 77.0x85.8 mm
• Compression ratio no data
• Valve gear 4 per cyl
• Ignition and fuel no data, Unleaded

Gearbox

• Type 6-speed Manual
• 1st 3.31 / 5.9
• 2nd 2.13 / 9.1
• 3rd 1.48 / 13.1
• 4th 1.14 / 17.1
• 5th 0.95 / 20.5
• 6th 0.82 / 23.9
• Final drive 3.71

Suspension

• Front no data
• Rear no data

Steering

• Type no data
• Lock to lock no data

Brakes

• Front no data
• Rear no data

Wheel & tyres

• Size front no data
• Size rear no data
• Made of no data
• Tyres front no data
• Tyres rear no data